http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110406/NEWS02/104060343/Senate-approves-reforms-of-drug-laws?odyssey=tab|mostpopular|text|FRONTPAGE
Delaware Senate approves reforms of drug laws
DOVER -- With little debate, the Delaware Senate on Tuesday approved the most sweeping changes to the state's drug laws since the 1960s.
On a 16-4 vote, the Senate authorized giving judges more discretion to stiffen sentences for drug dealers by streamlining criminal charges and eliminating pile-on charges for simple possession of small quantities of illegal drugs.
House Bill 19 would repeal significant portions of existing drug laws and replace them with three main crimes:
•Simple possession of a controlled substance;
•Drug dealing;
•Aggravated possession based on large amounts that would indicate drug dealing.
The bill calls for different levels of severity that would increase based on the drug weight and aggravating factors, such as possessing drugs near a school, resisting an officer's arrest or involving a child in the crime.
Senate Majority Leader Patricia Blevins, D-Elsmere, said the years-long rewrite of existing drug laws will end a "patchwork" of laws that have been added since restrictive drug laws were adopted in the late 1960s.
"This now reflects the true nature of the crime committed," Blevins said.
The most controversial provision repeals an existing felony charge added in drug cases when an individual possesses drugs within 1,000 feet of a school. The new law would make it an aggravating factor at sentencing if a possession or drug-dealing crime is committed within 300 feet of a school, park or church.
The Senate adopted an amendment to clarify that the 300-foot zone would apply to a recreation area, church, synagogue or other place of worship.
The bill now heads back to the House for a final vote before it goes to Gov. Jack Markell, who intends to sign it, said Markell spokesman Brian Selander.
Drug law reform advocates pushed for narrowing the drug-free zone to 300 feet, arguing that it unfairly adds a felony charge to people charged with misdemeanor drug possession who live in the city of Wilmington.
"You end up with persons charged with felonies who live in cities who commit the exact same offense as persons charged with a misdemeanor out in the county," Chief Deputy Attorney General Charles Butler told the Senate. "That's why we shrunk the space."
Equal punishment
The Rev. Silvester Beaman, of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church at 604 N. Walnut St. in Wilmington, said he is happy to hear the felony charge for selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school is being repealed. He suspected that the drug dealer in Wilmington is more likely to be black, whereas the drug dealer in Sussex County is more likely to be white.
"I don't have a whole lot of sympathy to people who sell drugs to my children, whether they're selling it 100 feet away from my church or 1 mile away from my church," he said. "But there is something to be said that the drug dealer in the north and the drug dealer in the south should be treated the same way."
The legislation also creates a tiered system based on the number of pills for possession of legal prescription drugs so abusers of controlled substances don't face the same penalties as dealers, said Public Defender Brendan O'Neill.
O'Neill said the bill eliminates the possibility of a prescription drug abuser with a large stash of being charged with a felony.
Under existing law, misdemeanor drug convictions can cost a person their driver's license for two years. Drug felons lose their license for three years. The bill would scale back that revocation period to six months, as required by federal law.
Voting against the bill were Democratic Sen. Robert Venables and Republican Sens. David Lawson, Colin Bonini and Joseph Booth. Sen. Dorinda "Dori" Connor, R-Penn Acres, was absent.
Venables, D-Laurel, said he voted against the bill because it creates a new Class F felony for possessing a handgun, a semiautomatic or an automatic weapon while in possession of drugs.
Lawson, a retired state police officer from Marydel, said narrowing the 1,000-foot restriction to 300 feet would create "free zones" for drug dealers.
Senior Pastor Christopher A. Bullock, of Canaan Baptist Church near New Castle, had mixed feelings about the new law. He supports the change that would make it an aggravating factor at sentencing if the crime is committed within 300 feet of a school, park or church. But he wishes the felony remained in drug cases when an individual is within 1,000 feet of a school.
"My premise is that drug dealing is wrong because it spreads poison in our community," Bullock said. "I would've liked to see it remain a felony because the message is if you get caught, there's gonna be consequences and severe consequences for illegal actions."
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"My premise is that drug dealing is wrong because it spreads poison in our community," Bullock said. "I would've liked to see it remain a felony because the message is if you get caught, there's gonna be consequences and severe consequences for illegal actions."
Just because it's an "illegal drug" doesn't mean it's a poison, especially when you consider the fact that many drugs were made illegal with ulterior motives outside of "public safety" (this is failing to mention that drug-prohibition is less-safe for the public than legal regulation, anyway).
Marijuana, Psilocybin, LSD and DMT are all ILLEGAL drugs and, yet, they are all less toxic than ibuprofen (Advil), an almost totally unregulated OTC drug.
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